{"id":104297,"date":"2019-07-25T12:05:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T16:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104297"},"modified":"2019-08-15T12:01:02","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:01:02","slug":"equifax-breach-website-now-accepting-consumer-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104297","title":{"rendered":"Equifax breach website now accepting consumer claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Attorney General Letitia James<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Third party administrator \u2014 not Equifax \u2014 is operating website<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers can check if\npersonal information was breached,
\nsign up for credit monitoring and restoration,
\nand apply for restitution directly on site <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General Letitia James today announced\nthat consumers can now visit a new website \u2014 www.EquifaxBreachSettlement.com<\/a> \u2014 and input limited information\nto see if their personal information was compromised in Equifax\u2019s massive breach\nof 2017 that ultimately affected more than 147 million consumers. The site not only\nhas information about the breach and the settlement reached, but also allows consumers\nto check if they were victims of the breach, file claims for financial restitution,\nset up credit monitoring and restoration services, and check on the status of all\nthese services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor two years, nearly half the U.S. population\nhas wondered if their personal information was compromised because of Equifax\u2019s\nirresponsible and negligent behavior,\u201d said Attorney General James<\/strong>. \u201cToday,\nwe can finally provide every American with clarity and undoubtedly tell them whether\ntheir information was stolen or not. I urge all to visit www.EquifaxBreachSettlement.com<\/a>and check to see if their data was illegally breached, and if so, file\na claim for restitution. Consumers will need to deal with the fallout of this breach\nfor years to come, and this website is just the first step in helping provide consumers\nwith the tools to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 22, Attorney General James announced a\nmultistate settlement with Equifax following their 2017 breach that compromised\nSocial Security numbers, names, dates of birth, addresses, credit card numbers,\nand, in some cases, driver\u2019s license numbers of nearly half the U.S. population.\nWhile the company created a website, in 2017, for Americans to check and see if\ntheir personal information was breached, that website was riddled\nwith vague and inaccurate information that only provided consumers with more uncertainty\nand no clear answer as to whether they were impacted by the breach or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the settlement has been provisionally\napproved by the court, www.EquifaxBreachSettlement.com<\/a> has been updated so that consumers can easily input their last name\nand the last six digits of their Social Security Number to find out if their information\nwas breached. A third party administrator \u2014 not Equifax \u2014 is overseeing this new\nwebsite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If consumers find out they were victims of the\nbreach, restitution can be provided in a multitude of ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer Restitution Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single Consumer Restitution Fund of up to $425\nmillion \u2014 $300 million of which will initially be dedicated to compensation, with\nan additional $125 million available if initial funds are depleted \u2014 will be provided\nto victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers can claim up to $20,000 to compensate\nfor money lost due to identity theft or fraud. Consumers who are eligible for redress\nwill be required to submit claims showing they have been a victim of fraud or have\ntaken proactive steps to set up credit monitoring services by submitting documents\nonline or by mail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers, however, do not<\/em> have to prove\ndirect causality from the breach to identity theft. As long as an individual was\na victim of the breach and a victim of identity theft in the two years since the\nbreach, they can apply for restitution. Consumers can also be compensated for the\ntime spent dealing with identity theft \u2014 at the rate of $25 per hour, for up to\n20 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to filing claims online, consumers\ncan also call 1-833-759-2982 to request a paper application be sent to them by postal\nmail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credit Monitoring and Restoration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equifax has agreed to offer consumers, who had\ntheir data exposed, with free credit-monitoring services for up to 10 years. Consumers\nthat take part in the service will have up to $1 million of identity theft insurance\navailable \u2014 at no deductible \u2014 to cover identity recovery expenses and legal costs.\nThe first four years of credit-monitoring service will include monitoring by all\nthree of the big three credit reporting agencies, while years five through 10 will\nbe made available through Equifax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Equifax has agreed to take several\nsteps to assist consumers who are either facing identity theft issues or who have\nalready had their identities stolen. These steps include making it easier for consumers\nto freeze and thaw their credit, and dispute inaccurate information in credit reports,\nas well as maintain sufficient staff to assist consumers who may be victims of identity\ntheft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional Pieces of the Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the settlement, Equifax has also agreed to\npay $175 million in fines to the Attorneys General of 48 states, the District of\nColumbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; $100 million in fines to the Consumer\nFinancial Protection Bureau (CFPB); and $10 million in fines to New York State\u2019s\nDepartment of Financial Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equifax has also had to spend hundreds of millions\nof dollars to strengthen its security practices as part of the settlement, and will\ncontinue to do so going forward. The company has agreed to regular third-party assessments\nto evaluate whether it\u2019s administrative, technical, and physical safeguards meet\nthe requirements provided in the agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information on the settlement can be found\nin the initial settlement announcement<\/a>\nmade on July 22, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third party administrator \u2014 not Equifax \u2014 is operating website Consumers can check if personal information was breached, sign up for credit monitoring and restoration, and apply for restitution directly on site Attorney General Letitia James today announced that consumers can now visit a new website \u2014 www.EquifaxBreachSettlement.com \u2014 and input limited information to see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}